


Two Seats Ahead

by Jelly_Jenkins



Series: Elthorne Park Endeavours [2]
Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: 1960s, Alternate Universe - High School, Crushes, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, School Uniforms, Slow Burn, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-12 11:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17466620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jelly_Jenkins/pseuds/Jelly_Jenkins
Summary: It's the night before the first day of school. Roger needs his best friend right now.





	1. Last Summer Night

Roger was laying on his bed, his father not home from work yet, and his mother making dinner downstairs. He was surrounded by an array of bright colors. His mum thought it would be good for him to start the new school year without a cluttered closet, although he had one outfit he had to wear everyday. Black or white dress shirt, slacks, and sometimes a red jumper with the school's emblem printed on the right breast.

A lot of things he did made his parents wince. Long hair, which his father disliked _heavily_. Smoking, although his parents didn't acknowledge it, since they smoked too. What his parents thought was the occasional drink, although during summer it was more like every night. His mother had something of a drinking habit as well, although she mostly drank wine at dinner, which wasn't uncommon among her housewife friends.

Roger rolled onto his side, feeling the crimson satin bird print on the cream-colored blazer that lay next to him. He ran his finger down the bird's wing, passed over the stitching that separated the wing and the body, and down the entire length of it. He looked past the garment and to the end table on the right side of his bed. He shifted so he could open it and get out his cigarettes. Roger shook the Lucky Strike box and picked out the yellow and white stick, putting up to his mouth and sitting up so it didn't burn his sheets, which he'd gotten in deep shit for before.

His phone rang. It sounded like his alarm clock. Which often it was, since his friend liked to call him in the morning while he got ready for school. He picked it up, unlit cigarette in his index and middle fingers.

"Hi, Rog." Brian's soft, melted-gold level voice spoke.

"Oh, hi, Brian." He stood up and dusted himself off, as if he was seeing him in person.

Brian cleared his throat, "what're you up to?"

"Not much, my mum said to get rid of some clothes before school starts tomorrow."

"Oh, God, don't mention the S-word." Roger wasn't there but he could tell his friend was rolling his eyes.

Rog giggled, "sorry. I don't plan on actually getting rid of anything."

"I figured not."

"So how're you preparing for tomorrow?"

Brian paused, "oh nothing special. Probably just going to shower, go to bed early, make sure my uniform is washed."

"Didja hear that they're going to get new skirts for the girls?"

"Shit, no, do tell."

Roger sat back down on the bed, ready to gossip about the girls. "So basically Susie Tommy got her daddy to sue the school, claiming that the skirts were too short."

"Oh my God, if she thinks she's not gonna hear any shit about that.."

Roger laid down again, curling the cord around his ring-bearing finger like some valley girl, "she must be something of a masochist, isn't she?"

"I can't imagine that she's not."

"What's your schedule?" Roger tensed a little bit, excited to see if his friend was in any classes of his.

"Uh.. let me see here. Ah, geometry with Davis, then physics with Condit, drama with Bullock, lunch, U.K. history with Mead, French three with Thedwall, and finally English with Ourada." He sounded like he had memorized it.

Roger sighed quietly, "well, we have physics, lunch, and English together." He was disappointed.

"Well that's three."

"When are you getting your license?" Roger went back to playing with the red bird's fabric on the bed.

"Soon."

The call went quiet, Roger felt his heartbeat increasing.

"I've got to go." Brian said, breaking the silence.

"Okay. Bye."

"...Bye." Brian hung up immediately after.

"I love you." Rog called into the dial tone before clacking the cherry red phone back down on it's receiver.


	2. First Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roger and Freddie sneak away during gym class to smoke.

Roger waited for the locker room to clear out by hiding in the handicapped bathroom stall together. If caught, they'd of been suspended and heavily bullied, due to two teenage boys sharing a bathroom stall is seen as... Less than heterosexual.

Once the yelling, locker-hitting, and body spray smell died down, Freddie looked at Roger, who had been writing something vulgar on the bathroom wall with a sharpie.

"Hey, I think it's clear." Freddie put his index and thumb over the unlocking mechanism.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, lemme get my smokes." He stood up, the feeling of loose work-out material rubbing against his thighs.

"Hurry up, darling, I don't want to get caught." Fred unlocked the black stall door and pushed. It accidentally hit the wall and made an ugly noise. "Be careful, dumbass." Roger laughed and giggled as he pushed past his friend. Fred couldn't return with anything and instead just sighed and grumbled.

Rog bent down and unclipped his bag, digging his pale arm to the bottom left of it and pulling out a pack of Luckies and a cherry red lighter. Freddie just watched him do this, left shoulder leaning against the beige-colored, cold lockers.

"You think our gym uniforms are ridicules?" He stood up and faced Fred, looking down and pulling out his red shirt to look at it. The uniforms were pretty bad. They consisted of a pair of black shorts with a white lining, a red t-shirt, and a track suit top in case it was cold in England that day. The girls wore a skirt with shorts underneath for gym with the same colors as the guys' shorts. Most girls didn't take gym anyway, since it was mostly a class of sweaty boys that wanted to get buff to impress girls or whatever.

"Yes, God. I can't stand them. They're so.." Fred paused and made this sort of hand motion, "plain!"

Roger sighed. "Alright, so what's our method of escape? Should we just go under the bleachers, or hop the fence and go behind a tree in the woods, or what?"

"Everyone goes under the bleachers, dear, it's the first place the administrators check! Let's go out in the woods. We'll find a clearing or something."

"Alright. Groovy." He pressed the panic bar and they both felt air against their faces and legs. Roger jammed the cigarettes into the pocket of his shorts.

They made quick work of their skipping, hopping the fence that must've been 3 feet high and climbing over sticks in the woods. The woods were actually quite pretty, with mixes of birch and oak trees dotted. Moss-covered rocks that they slipped over, salamanders scurrying under pebbles, and crows squawking. They actually found themselves child-like once more. They did find themselves in a small clearing no more than 100 yards from the fence.

Roger plopped onto a rock that he dusted lichen off of, and offered Freddie a Lucky. He courteously lit his friend's first, before lighting his own. Roger took a long drag and flicked off a piece of ash onto a wet leaf resting on the forest floor.

"This is going to seem like a random question, but would you date any of your teachers?" Freddie asked.

Roger snapped up his head and made suspicious eyes. He shook his head, "Fred what the fuck."

"I'm just saying! Is it not something you think about?"

"No, Freddie. No."

Freddie shrugged and sat Indian style at the base of a thin birch tree opposite Roger's rock. They sat in silence, taking drags off their cigarettes and listening to birds and various noises of the forest.

Roger perked up. "Do you hear running water?"

"No."

"I swear there is a creek somewhere. It's distant though, I wouldn't go looking for it." He looked back down at the brown leaves.

The forest felt comforting for Roger. He'd grown up here and had quite the imagination to go out into the woods. Roger would cross logs, climb trees, grab salamanders by their tails, chuck rocks into rivers to watch fish displace, and build mini forts. The woods had gotten him through some tough times. When his parents would fight, he'd take a break from it all by exploring between the trees.

"Freddie."

"Yeah?"

"Who was your first kiss?"

"Mary."

"That's sad." Roger smiled.

"Shut up."

He chuckled, pulling out another cigarette and extinguished the yellow bud against the side of the rock. Rog lit the Lucky and took a long drag.

"Well, what about you, Roger?"

He leaned back, trying to remember when it was.

"Well, I think it was seventh year. The year I met Brian. I came out into the woods with him and..."

Freddie looked surprised, putting things together. "Holy shit, your first was Brian?"

Roger tensed and felt two thick ribbons of pink spread across his face. "Yes but.. We were dumb kids! We just wanted our first kisses to get over with! The whole thing was dumb and just.. an experiment!"

"Roger.."

Rog started shaking as Fred got up and made his way over to him. "That's.. okay."

Freddie put his hand on Roger's right shoulder. "Look, that's perfectly fine. You're not the only one here who thinks guys are hot."

"What? No, no no. I don't think guys are hot. Like I said, we were dumb kids! It didn't mean anything." He shook off Freddie and stood up.

"Okay well.. how about.."

"I'm not kissing you, Freddie."

"I wasn't going to suggest that, you slag! I mean, unless you want to pretend I'm Brian, darling."

"Shut up!" Roger crossed his arms.

"Dear, I won't say anything about this. I'm glad you told me. Now I don't feel so alone."

"What do you mean... Oh, right, the gay shit."

"Yes, Roger, the gay shit."

The forest fell quiet and a schoolbell could be heard in the distance.

"Oh shit." They said in unison and quickly put out their cigarettes, dusted themselves off, and ran back to the changing room.


	3. Piss Off

Fred, Jim, Roger, Brian, and John were all sitting in a little carpeted nook just outside of the auditorium. Their lunches to the left or right of them. Fred, of course, had something incredible and exotic that his mother would cook for him. Jim usually brought a tomato sandwich, but threw it out in turn for tasting some of Freddie's lunch, who was always happy to spoon feed his lover. John ate very little, if anything. It would usually be a package of crackers or chips that he'd crunch on while smiling and laughing with his band mates. Brian had the same thing everyday he made in the morning. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cut diagonally. Roger would buy his lunch from the school, which today looked like a sponge covered with pepper. He'd reluctantly eat it, chewing fast and swallowing. Sometimes, if they managed to be coordinated enough to do so, they'd leave campus and walk to a nearby burger shop or the corner store. They had a formation they sat in. John was against the ceiling-to-floor window, Roger and Brian were close quarters against the right wall, and Jim and Fred were against the left back corner, probably uncomfortably cuddling on the scratchy carpet floor. Sometimes Mary would join them with her new boyfriend, sometimes she'd join them alone.

"Didja hear that miss Jones got knocked up again?" Brian piped up, playing with his jumper sleeve.

Freddie said quietly, "fuckin' again?"

"God she's always pregnant it seems." Roger had his chin resting on his arms, which were resting on his knees as he was curled up. His head was turned slightly to the side, looking at Brian's pretty face as he told the whole story. The blonde's eyes trailed from the curly hair perched on the top of his head, down to the profile of his nose, and finally to the plump lips he lusted after. _Wow,_ Roger thought, _Bri's got a very handsome profile. I should kiss him. No. This is not the time for that. That'd be awkward. God, brain, you come up with the stupidest shit._

John seemed observant of Roger's behavior. He decided not to say anything, and instead took out a note card and wrote something down. Rog was oblivious to all of this, and so was Brian. Jim was too engrossed in Brian's story. Freddie half payed attention to the story and half zoned out.

John pushed himself up to go to the bathroom, saying nothing as he stuck the note in Roger's face and dropping it onto the floor. Roger scrambled to retain a normal human position as he picked up the small note card. _"Follow me into the bathroom, I wanna talk."_ Roger read silently. He got up and threw away the remaining slop of a school lunch into the garbage, leaving the tray on top of it. He turned the corner into the bathroom and saw John against the wall.

"What?" Roger asked as Deacy gave a sly look.

"You look at Brian a lot. You seem to _like_ him a lot."

Rog twitched his shoulders up and blushed slightly, "shut your lid."

"Why?" John asked innocently.

"I-I.." Roger cleared his throat, "I fucking hate Brian! No.." He grabbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers, "that's not correct. I-"

"It's fine. You should go for it. But that's my advice." John said and waited for Roger to either storm off or say something back. The first option was what ended up happening.

Roger plopped back down, still slightly red and mad. He returned to his position. Brian had already gotten off-topic with the conversation but interrupted himself to look at Roger.

"Havin' a little fun in the bathroom, there, Rog?" Bri smiled in a snarky way.

Roger gave the kind of look he gave when he didn't get his way and his half of his face. "Piss off."

"Okay, geez. I was just joking." Brian scooted back slightly.

"I'm not in the _mood_ for _jokes_ , Bri."

"Something wrong, Roger?" Jim looked concerned.

"Piss off! Both of you!" Roger got increasingly pissed off and outstretched his arms in a dramatic way.

"Don't fucking tell the love of my life to piss off." Freddie got serious.

"Don't fucking tell me what to do! I don't even want to fucking see any of you right now!" Roger knew he was lying. He wanted to see Brian. He wanted to see Brian all the time.

John got back from the bathroom and just backed away slowly a few steps. "Then leave, Roger!" Brian was fed up.

"Maybe I fucking well! You'd all like that wouldn't you!"

"Hell of a lot better than your constant bitching!" Brian yelled as Roger got up and picked up his stuff.

"Take it down a bit." John quietly said.

"This whole argument is stupid, you know that, right?" Fred muttered semi-loudly.

"Yes, thank you, Freddie." Brian nodded.

Roger clenched his fists and felt tears well up. He was cranky. He was tired. He wanted to go home. Roger was like a toddler when he gets tired. "Fuck you guys. You don't care about me." Rog stretched out his red jumper and covered the left side of his face with it. He spun around and turned into the bathroom, locking his own stall door behind him.

"I've got it this time." Brian rolled his eyes and slid his back up to a standing position. He made his way to the bathroom and knocked on the stall door of where he heard sniffling.

"Roger, I'm sorry. Of course we care about you. We wouldn't invite you anywhere or be your friend if we didn't care about you."

Roger dried his tears off and sat up at the sound of Brian's soft yet stern voice. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine, Rog, you're sitting on the toilet crying."

"I'm not crying, I just have a cold."

"No, you're not sick. Come out here. You need a hug don't you?"

Roger's eyes widened. He stood up and unlocked the stall with red eyes, looking a guilty child look to Bri. Brian outstretched his arms and enveloped Roger in his bony yet firm embrace. Rog started blushing, pretty hard, but he hid it by crying a little bit into Brian's jumper and hugging him back.

"You're just tired, aren't you?"

Roger sniffled, "yeah."

"You wanna skip and come to my house? My mum's going to be out until 5 tonight."

"Yeah, that'd be nice." They broke off the hug and Roger was still blushing. The school bell rang and they collected their things.


End file.
